As Chet had predicted, by the time "Saigon's Finest" raided Club 23 Skiddoo, Dolores Gutierrez, Park Kim Jung, and Chou Sen Yi were nowhere to be found. On the other hand, as his uncle had predicted, Chang Ah Fu did not take kindly to the disclosure that some of his underlings had been working hand-in-glove with the Communists.
And, those who had willingly assisted Chou in his side-line began to mysteriously disappear, every couple months or so, shortly thereafter.
Almost simultaneously, an Italian fishing boat blew up in the Gulf of Taranto! Il Brigate Rosse took immediate credit for it, claiming it to be a Mafia smuggling vessel. And, that those Sicilian criminals were the worst capitalist oppressors in the entire Mediterranean. Naturally, the Mafia took offense at this. And, soon, people that the Italian authorities had long suspected of being Red Brigade members and/or sympathizers (without being able to prove it) began turning up dead, from Venice to Rome.
This, of course, severed the Mediterranean leg of the drug pipeline. Leading to the complete collapse of what the CIA had already dubbed "the Sino-Albanian Connection."
In Ontario, California, the woman formerly known as Enid Horton received the shock of her life when Chet Northfield and his uncle stopped by to visit her. Making sure to do so while her son was in school.
All three men (including her shrunken husband) explained what had happened, and how. Little Buck then asked her a question he could no longer avoid even thinking about.
"We have two choices, honey. We can stay together, as a family, at a special facility, while Jiro's people try to find a cure for me. Or, we can have our marriage secretly annulled, while it's publicly revealed that I died in Saigon. Killed by drug smugglers I was trying to expose."
She told them she would have to literally sleep on it. Buck agreed that that was fair enough. So, Chet and Anjiro went to the local YMCA to spend the night, while Buck and Enid tried to get "reacquainted."
The next morning, after Ned Fogarty had once more left for school, the two men returned to hear the verdict.
"Buck and I discussed it, at length," began Enid: "It's very painful to say this. But, we've decided to go with Plan B. It was bad enough, worrying about his front-line coverage of the Korean War. But, this??? I'm sorry. It's just too much for me to deal with. Not to mention, how traumatic this might be for Ned. After all, I have to think of him, too!"
Three days later, an empty-casket memorial service was held for the legendary Buck Fogarty. He was "buried" at St. Francis De Sales Cemetary, in Ontario. And, it provided some consolation that so many of his fellow journalists were among the mourners in attendance. Enid even got a telegram of condolence from Walter Cronkite, himself!
It also proved comforting, to Little Buck, that Percy Throckmorton's book was posthumously published, right on schedule: in the spring of 1974. The mass marketing, however, began on April 1, which Buck was afraid might cause a lack of sales. Especially, in light of the title!
"FROM WHITECHAPEL TO DEALEY PLAZA:
The Strange-But-True Connection
Between JFK And Jack The Ripper.
By Percival Throckmorton"
tbc
Giantess World
